Electrical switch.



.'/%M/, z /MII 'No'. 770,166. PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904/ H. W. cox. I

ELECTRICAL SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILBD IULY 15, 1903. N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

, PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904 H. w. 00X. ELECTRICAL swrron. APPLIUATION FILED JULY 15, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 2.

0 MODEL.

IIIIIIIIIIII/ MAMA}!!! Patented September 13, 1904 HARRY WVILLIAM COX, OF NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND.

ELECTRICAL SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,166, dated. September 13, 1904.

' Application filed July 15, 1903. Serial No. 165,710. (No model.)

To all w/wm, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY WILLIAM Cox, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of Nottingham, in the county of Nottingham, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electrical Switches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in electrical switches.

It is well known that in electrical switches as heretofore constructed there is usually a rigid connection between the handle by which the switch is actuated and the contact-arm, so that the contact-arm is driven into contact or thrust out of contact with the pole-pieces by the full force of the operators hand.

The object of the present invention is, while preserving this inelastic connection between the handle and the contact-maker for the above-mentioned purposes, to provide for a certain limited amount of independent motion of the handle in order to introduce between the handle and the contact-maker a supplementary spring connection for insuring a very rapid makeand-break action, also improvements in the means for stopping and locking the contact-arms in their on and off position.

In the drawings which are attached hereto and referred to in the following description, Figure 1 is an elevation of a switch constructed according to this invention. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 4 is a section on the line A A, Fig. 2, showing the position of the parts just before contact is broken. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the cam-lever for operating the spring catch-pin. Fig. 6 is a plan of the same. Fig. 7 is a plan of a switch constructed according to an alternative method of carrying out this invention; and Fig. 8 is a section on the line B B, Fig. 7.

In the switch shown in Figs. 1 to 6 the contact-arms l are fitted to turn on an axle 2, which has its bearings in a bracket 3, fixed to the base 4. On the same axle 2 and fixed thereto is the handle 5 and a collar 6, this latter having cam-shaped levers 7 and an arm 8, to which one end of the spring 9 is attached,

the other end of the said spring being attached to a distance-piece 10 between the arms 1. At the fulcrum end of the arms 1 there is the catch-pin 11, which can slide axially in holes in the arms and has a conical collar 12 and a spring 13, which tends to hold the pin 11 in engagement with the bracket 3, as shown. In the bracket 3 there are holes 1% and 15, so spaced that when the contact-arms are in the on position, as shown in the drawings, the pin 11 engages with the hole 14, and when the contact-arms are moved to their off position the pin 11 engages with the hole 15. The ends 16 of the contact arms 1 1 may be used to stop the motion of the arms when moved to their off position, and for this purpose are shaped as shown, so as to come into contact with the base of the bracket 3 when the pin 11 is opposite the hole 15. The switch-poles l7 and 18 are constructed of spring-plates attached to blocks 19 and 20, which are fixed to the base 4 by screws, which form switch-terminals. The poles and the contact-arms may, however, be of any of the usual types, and two or more switches may be connected together and operated from the same handle, and there may be separate catch mechanism to each switch or a single catch mechanism to all the connected switches.

In the switch shown in Figs. 7 and 8 the center fixed axle 21 has a collar 22 and a fiange 23 and is fixed to the base 24. The contactarm 25, as shown in the drawings, is built up of copper strips with distance-pieces; but any other form of contact-arm with suitable polepieces may be used. The contact-arm is fitted to turn freely on the center axle 21 and is fitted with one or more spring catch-pins 26, having conical heads 27. The handle 28, of nonconductive material, is fitted to turn on the axle 21 independently of the contact-arm 25 and is attached to a metal collar 29, which carries a cam-shaped lever 30 for each springpin 26, and is connected to the contact-arm by springs 31 through the plate 32. The flange 23 is provided with four holes 33 for the springpin 26, and leading to these holes there are inclined grooves 34, which allow the end of the pin 26 to fall below the surface of the flange 23 and stop the motion of the contact-arm when it strikes a hole 33, into which the pin is forced by its spring to lock the arm in position. With this switch the contact-arm is moved to its on and off position alternately by a continuous rotation of the handle; but by using two cam-shaped levers 30, with oppositely-inclined grooves leading to the holes 33 in the flange 23, the switch may be movedto its on and off position by an oscillating movement of the handle.

When the handle of the switch herein described is turned to move the contact-arm from one position to the other, the switchspring is first put into tension. Then one of the cam-shaped levers acts upon the conical head of the spring catch-pin, as shown in Fig. 4, and forces the pin from its hold in the catch-plate. At the same time the camshaped' lever acts upon the shank of the spring catch-pin and positively starts the motion of the contact-arm. The spring then comes intoaction and gives to the arm. a very rapid motion, which can be positively completed, if necessary, by a further motion of the handle. The contact-arm is thus positively actuated at the commencement of each motion, and such motion can, if necessary, be positively completed, whilea quick make and break is insured by the spring between the handle and contact-arm.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electrical switch the combination of acontact-arrn, polepieces.to,be connected by such arm, an axle upon. which. thesaid, arm can turn, a bracket carrying the said axle, a handle and cam-levers fixed upon the axle, a catch-pin carried by the contact-arm, a spring on the catch-pin, holes in thebracket for the catch-pin, stops for limiting the motion of the contact-arm and a spring or springs between the contact-arm and handle substantially as herein set forth.

2. In an electrical switch, the combination of a contact-arm supported upon an axis near one end, an operating-handle supported on the same axis as the contact-arm, but movable independently thereof, a catch for locking the contact-arm and seated therein near itsv axis, a cam for operating the catch to release the contact-army, and a spring connected at one end to the contact-arm and at its opposite end with the handle, and arranged to be put under tension, when the arm is moved to bring the cam into engagement with the catch, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY WILLIAM COX.

Witnesses:

J OHN ARCHER, WILLIAM H. POTTER. 

